Wall-Hole-Dust Collection

Instead of letting drywall dust settle on the floor and vacuuming it up later, collect it right at the hole.

Drilling holes in walls to install anchors for paintings or mounting flat-screen TVs means producing drywall dust. Rather than letting the dust settle on the floor and vacuuming it up later, I collect the dust right at the hole. I use painter’s tape to stick the top flap of a small cardboard box to the wall directly below the hole to be drilled. Then I set the drill to a low RPM setting so the dust isn’t spun afar. The dust drops straight down the wall, over the tape and into the small box.

When drilling multiple holes on different walls, there’s no need to replace the tape on the box lid. The adhesive will stick to the wall several times before needing to be refreshed with a new strip of tape. And if you don’t have a small cardboard box, a makeshift container can be molded from a piece of aluminum foil or taped together from a scrap of heavy paper.

— Mike Guertin, East Greenwich, R.I.

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